Confessions of a Hostelite - Janice Rodrigues

When I first discovered I was spending the next three years of my life in a hostel; to say I was upset would be a massive understatement. I remember reading the hostel rule book (yes, it really does exist) and being filled with a sense of dread for what lay in store for me. Atrocious food? Early curfew? ONLY ONE TV???

Such words floated to me, through endless advice and suggestions. But something seemed to happen almost immediately after joining. All those mundane rules and restrictions seemed insignificant for two major reasons – one, there were an endless stream of new activities that helped me keep my mind off them. And two, I learnt that hostelites don’t follow the rules anyway!!!

The last six months have been like an invigorating journey, filled with ups and downs. But in the end, when I think of my fondest memories of Mumbai, I give credit to the hostel for making it all possible. And although it gives me intense happiness to complain about its endless flaws and the grumpy warden, in the end, I’m glad to be a hostelite.

We may have occasional pangs of ‘homesickness’ but there are always a great number of things that make it worthwhile - singing along to the tune of the guitar at 2 in the morning, celebrating someone’s birthday at midnight, having a mass study session the night before an exam. So many more wonderful opportunities and experiences I would have hated to miss.

So this goes out to all those incredible, independent people staying in hostels. It’s true: we still have atrocious food, an early curfew and ONLY ONE TV. But along this way, we get to meet these remarkable people we call friends, and that’s what makes all the difference.